One obsessive Canadian's review of everything going on in Lucha Libre.

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Fox Sports October 2006 & Random WWA Matches!

CMLL on Fox Sports 10/8/06:

La Mascara/Pantera/Virus vs Hombre Sin Nombre/Misterioso II/Sangre Azteca: Standard match that stuck to the formula we are now used to. Pantera really just isn't Pantera without the mask. Just some old looking dude who is wearing Pantera's outfit and doing his old spots at half speed.:( He seemed to be going for super top-rope frankensteiner on Misterioso II to end the first fall but didn't have the right footing so he just did a super headlock takedown! INNOVATION!:p Misterioso II had his tights ripped up somehow during a second fall exchange and instead of going to the back to get a new pair, HSN took off his outer tights and lent them to his buddy while Virus laughed. Less laughing and more concentration needed though b/c 30 seconds later Virus got pinned! Third fall had Pantera do a flip plancha through the ropes onto HSN and then after another minute or so, Misterioso pinned Mascara after the Gory Driver. Finishes like that bother me b/c Pantera hit his dive so long ago, he was really just talking to the fans as the finish occured. Pure laziness. I can understand him not interfereing if it's two guys who are really feuding and want to see who the best is, but this was just a random pairing and he had no reason to not jump in the ring. For some reason I never used to see that as much in the older days of Lucha Libre.

Mistico/Negro Casas/Blue Panther vs Atlantis/Black Warrior/Universo 2000: Another match where they stuck to the formula. The best part for me was the finish where Warrior yanked Mistico's mask as usual and there was NO POP. The crowd was just sitting there with their jaws on the floor as if saying "that finish AGAIN?" and then they began to file out of the building. I know they don't want to Mistico to keep burying Warrior by beating him and they can't have Mistico taking a pin every match but how about some creative finishes?

CMLL on Fox Sports 10/22/06:

Torneo Cibernetico: This had no purpose whatsoever and only served to kill this style of match off even more as now they are running another one this Sunday with basically the same eight guys, except this time they get a title shot at whoever CMLL decides is the current Middleweight Champion. I thought Sagrado looked the best in this match followed by Virus and Koslov. Goto didn't look good at all and had communication problems with EVERYONE he got in the ring with. Purpura's stuff must have been edited out b/c he didn't get to do show anything. It came down to Virus and Sagrado vs Koslov so naturally you are expecting one of the tecnicos to get elimination except I think something went wrong. Virus did a flying somersault senton on Koslov and appeared to injure the Russian's arm. He rolled to his corner but realized nobody was there to tag so just fell outside the ring even though Virus was trying to keep him inside. Virus jumped outside and rolled him back in but Koslov once again rolled away... perhaps trying to signal he was really hurt. Virus tagged out to Sagrado and said something at the same time so Sagrado slammed Koslov and nailed a moonsault to eliminate him. The crowd seemed confused since something like this has only happened once from what I can remember. To make it more confusing, Sagrado immediatly rolled up Virus before any announcement could be made as to whether the match would continue or not. They didn't do any nearfalls after that... Sagrado just hit another moonsault for the win. Confusing finish. I'm sure it wasn't planned to happen that way and they just improvised b/c the announcers never built up the fact that if an entire team survives they have to face each other and after Koslov was eliminated, the ref tried to raise both Sagrado and Virus' hands to end the match. They really need to stop running these constant Torneo's. They used to be special attractions and we'd be LUCKY to see one every two months or so but now they seem to be a bi-weekly thing and keep getting shorter and shorter.

Mistico/Heavy Metal/La Mascara vs Black Warrior/Olimpico/Ultimo Guerrero: Exact same match as the week before but with different wrestlers and a sorta different third fall. For some reason, *WARRIOR* got to hit a dive on *MISTICO*, which was a somersault bodyblock off the apron. Much to my surprise, the next dive was La Mascara being assisted into a somersault over the top on his own partner Heavy Metal! Mistico forgot his cue to get back inside so Guerrero had to stall and then remind him. They blew a spot and then went straight into La Mistica but of course Warrior tore Mistico's mask off in mid-move for the DQ. Crowd once again just started to leave in silence.

Get these two weeks for a good lesson on how to kill off two wrestlers as fast as possible after they just had a huge match.

Random WWA Matches:

These are three matches from the WWA TV show that used to air on Fox Sports(still does maybe?) but these were on two episodes that never were included on the U.S. channel, only the Mexico channel...

Extasis vs Nemesis: This is not the Nemesis from AAA or the Nemesis from IWRG. How do you like that cubs? Extasis looked to be about 14 years old here and was wearing an Alan Stone 2001-esque outfit. They worked the mat and then picked up the pace as you'd expect. Extasis did a nice tope suicida and then immediatly followed up with an asai moonsault where both his feet nailed Nemesis in the face! They did some nice nearfalls and Extasis went over in the one fall match.

Babe Cobra and Extasis vs Memo Velasquez and Sparks: I expected more from the (sorta) new faces but this was just a standard tag match w/o much excitement. Extasis was more toned down than usual, mostly by Velasquez who seemed to be controlling things. The tecnicos did dual tope suicidas in the first fall but that was an exciting as it got. I'd still like to see more from Velasquez though as I think he trains the young TJ guys and he seems like a fun older rudo that can hold things together and reel in the young flyers. A guy like Extreme Tiger should be working here instead of matches against La Furia Mexicali.

Perro Aguayo Jr./Nicho El Millonario/Rayo De Jalisco Jr. vs Espectro Jr./Mascara Ano 2000/Ragin' Dawg: Pretty much a mess of a match. The Nicho/Dawg feud was pushed, as was Perrito vs MA2K. In the third fall Nicho was setting up for a pescado but Dawg seemed unaware and was just hunched over on the floor so after a few seconds Nicho just went anyways and turned it into a slingshot stomp... or something. There was some screwiness at the end and I can't remember who won.:/